What Stays and What Fades Away
by wearestarstuff
Summary: After Ezra has a vision of his father, the ghost crew set out to rescue him. Little do they realize rescuing Ephraim Bridger was the easy part. Tensions run high between master and Padawan, and Ezra must choose between his progression as a Jedi or the only family he has left.
1. the Braid and the vision

_**What Stays and What Fades Away**_

**Chapter 1**

**The Braid and the Vision**

Ezra was right on time.

He hadn't been late since Kanan took him to the Jedi temple on Lothal. Kanan had remarked this once, telling the padawan he was glad to see he was finally taking his training seriously. Ezra smiled and nodded, though privately thinking it was more a case of his master no doubt having more "_Mysterious Caves of Evil_" to lock him in to teach him a lesson.

"So what's on today's agenda?" Ezra asked as he entered the cabin. "Soresu? Shii Cho? Making connections with the Force?"

Kanan smiled "Perhaps later. Come here." He patted a spot next to him on the cot where he was sitting. "I've been wanting to this for a while. Since you went through the initiation, really."

Ezra sat down dutifully but confused. Kanan reached out, straightening out the hair at the back of his head. The Jedi was grateful his apprentice hadn't cut his hair in the months since he joined _the_ _Ghost's_ crew. He could only imagine how it hard this would be if the boy's hair was any shorter.

"Are you braiding my hair?" Ezra asked, his face the very definition of skeptical.

"This braid is symbolic of your rank as a Padawan. Before the fall of the Temple anyone who saw this would know you were a Padawan. My Padawan"

"_My Padawan."_ The words felt right. Yet, not enough.

He remembered the feel of his own master's hands weaving his hair. She used to sing this nonsensical little tune when she focused, he remembered. It was sweet and melancholy. He started to sing it now.

…_Save our sons from war, we pray…_

_Soothe the wrath and tame the fury…_

_Teach us all a kinder way …_

"A Padawan braid?" Ezra's voice broke through his thoughts like they were so much fog melting away in the morning sun. "Did you have one?"

"A long time ago." He smiled ruefully, "there was a whole ceremony to go with it. But I don't quite remember it." Besides what good were those silly little rituals in times like this? Just braiding the boy's hair made him feel ridiculously sappy.

As he weaved the blue tufts together he sent up a little prayer that he might live long enough to sever his Padawan's braid. That Ezra need never see the day he where he would be forced cut it off himself.

He could only hope.

Ezra managed to close his eyes, just sinking into the sensation of Kanan's fingers in his hair. It reminded him of when he was a child and his folks would comb his hair.

"_Dad?"_

_But I'm doing the same thing you did!_

Ezra…

_Star destroyer factory _

_Bright orange prison uniforms. _

"_We should be in and out in less than a month."_

_Ephraim Bridger sitting in a cell_

Ezra!

_Strong callused hands undoing the braid he had been so proud of scant weeks ago_

_If you want to progress as a Jedi, you have to leave him behind. _

_Best for me, Kanan? Or Best for you?_

_Your mother would be so very proud…_

EZRA!

Ezra opened his eyes to see Kanan hovering over him. "You passed out."

"I think I had another vision." He said faintly.

His master helped him sit up. "What did you see?"

"I saw my father." His eyes met Kanan's.

"My dad's alive!"


	2. the prison

**Chapter 2**

Kanan frowned. "Are you sure? You know your visions can be..."

"Clouded by my emotions?"Ezra supplied.

Kanan smiled, "Something like that."

Ezra sighed. He grabbed Kanan by the shoulder, and gave him a pleading look. "Please, Kanan. I don't understand every part of my vision, but I know without a doubt if there's even the slightest chance if my father's really alive and that he needs my help..."

"I know what you mean." And in a way he did. If he ever had even the slightest inkling Master Billaba was still alive there was nothing in the universe that could prevent him from coming for her. Hell, he'd done exactly that for Master Luminara. Even if it had turned out to be a trap.

Yet, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling this whole thing gave him. Ezra had been Kanan's Padawan for nearly a year. And in that time they'd grown closer. Certainly, the relationship was closer than normal for master and Padawan. Perhaps, even closer than the brothers-in-arms camaraderie he told himself it was. Sometimes though, in the deepest darkest recesses of his he would call it was.

_Love._

He couldn't put his finger on it, but somewhere along the line he'd stop seeing the boy as a scrappy lothrat with untold potential that had been dropped into his lap by fate, and started seeing him as a son. The son he never thought he could ever have.

If his father came back into picture, where did that leave him? _Stop that _he told himself, _you're being selfish._

He forced a smile for Ezra's sake. "Let's go get the others. We need to prepare for an op."

"Just like the good old days!" the teen cheered. "With all the public speaking I've had to do lately, I've actually started to miss the sneaking around and shooting things and making things go boom…" his smile went wistful in a way that made impossible for Kanan to deny him anything.

Kanan put a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me everything about where you saw your dad being held. Perhaps it will give us some clue to find him…"

…

The prison was on an asteroid in what could only be described as the ass crack of nowhere. There was however one good point about its location.

"Awful light on security for a prison." Kanan observed.

Sabine rolled her eyes "I imagine the asteroid is it own security system." She said, "The schematics are only of the exterior. Once we get in, we'll be completely blind."

"Well what good is that?" Zeb snarled. "In fact, these whole schematics are an absolute mess." The Lassat tugged on Ezra's braid absent mindedly, and Ezra batted his hand away. Ever since Ezra had shown it to him an hour ago, he'd been finding new ways to tease him about it.

"I think the guards are simply there to keep you from getting out. They probably don't care what happens once you're in."

"The Empire didn't build this place to punish people." Ezra said in a tight voice, his eyes oddly distant, "they built it to forget them."

Kanan found himself unable to disagree with him there.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Zeb asked. "we can't run an op on incomplete schematics."

Kanan smiled, "Looks like Ezra and I are gonna have to do some time…"

…

Ezra loved the color orange. No really, he wore the color nearly every day. However, these uniforms made him reconsider his sentiments on it. Something about the violent orange jumpsuits revolted him. Perhaps he should go back to wearing the uniform from the academy for a few days (Sabine had even painted a phoenix on it). Get the atrocity of out of his system.

By morning two, he'd already ripped off the top half, leaving only a pair of lurid trousers and a white undershirt. There, at least now the ugliness was halved. Kanan however, kept his intact, rolling his eyes telling him not to be so melodramatic. "We should be in and out in less than a week." He'd said, "You can live with an ugly wardrobe for that long."

Ezra was skeptical.

They'd arrived with a shipment of new prisoners after lunch yesterday, which was apparently an ideal time for sneaking in and blending in as everyone was focused on going back to work. As Ezra's vision told him, this prison was the leading supplier of tie-fighter guns in the galaxy. Two extra pairs of hands went unnoticed in the busy factory.

Sneaking in with the prisoners meant that disguises and living arrangements had been provided, but as with all their plans, they'd hit a snag. This particular snag was an albino looking boy named Grey with big silvery eyes and friendly grin. And now, Ezra's cellmate. Apparently even on asteroids in deep space Ezra had fans. The other teen gladly offered up any help give, though Ezra got the feeling he had more enthusiasm than any actual idea on how to help them. But as Kanan had pointed out, they needed all the allies they could get.

Unfortunately, this meant Ezra had a new friend (see: shadow). The kid followed him everywhere and looked up to him with a hero worship that made him uncomfortable. Still not the worst fan he'd ever met. The girls in the fan club on Lothal still held that honor (while he had been flattered by their attentions, there was such a thing as too far). Still, once he'd gotten over being star struck, Grey revealed himself to be quite intelligent and resourceful.

_Of course he's resourceful._ He scolded himself. _Otherwise he wouldn't be here. He'd be dead._

He might even like the guy if he were to ever stop talking.

The morning shift had ended and he and his new companion were sitting at a quite frankly soulless looking steel table in the canteen. Ezra scratched his initials among millions of others into its glossy surface with a tin spork while his companion babbled. Kanan was off getting food for them (and if he signaled a droid that just so happened to be passing by, well no one seemed to notice). Lucky bastard.

Surprisingly even the vandalisms did little to liven the table up. Maybe it was some sort of imperial trick. They certainly manage to suck the soul out of everything else they touch.

"You! Boy!" said a voice behind him. It was a green humanoid with horns (well, a horn and a half. One of them was broken). He wondered absently if he was the same species as Vizago. He was bigger though. And yet, still not the scariest thing he'd ever faced.

Ezra smiled lazily, "Can I help you?"

"You came in with that bounty hunter; Jarrus."

"I didn't know Kanan had friends in here." He shrugged. Grey seemed to blanche at his nonchalance.

"Your Kanan is the reason I'm here. He's the one who did this to me." he pointed to his broken horn.

"Do you need them to match? Because I can help."

This enraged the man so much he grabbed Ezra by the collar. "You little punk!" he snarled "Do you know who I am?!"

"A guy who likes to yell?"

"I will teach you respect!"

He threw Ezra across the room, but the boy flipped in midair and landed nimbly on his feet.

Ezra put his weight forward. His toes and chest faced sideways but his were on his collar bone. He raised his hands to his ears careful to keep his arms blocking his face. Just like Kanan had taught him. _There will be times when you can't use your light saber, or attack with the force. In this instance, you must be your greatest weapon._

He made a beckoning motion with his hand. "Ladies first." He grinned.

…

The kid had gall, Iago would give him that. But gall alone would not save him. He'd decided on cutting him up only a little bit. Send a little message to Jarrus. Show him who's in charge. He took out his knife and stalked over to him, already imagining what he'd do to the boy's pretty face…

Only, it didn't happen that way.

The boy moved with startling speed. A slight blur of orange and blue. He chopped at his wrist in way that made Iago's hand spasm open and the knife clattered to the ground

He attacked with his elbows, he chopped with the hard line of his hand – no blow risks his fingers, and no blow is wasted. Nothing lands on muscle or bone; they all strike nerves and the joins of tendons, unerringly seeking out the weaknesses inherent in the body.

Iago was on the ground before he even knew he was going to lose, his boot rested deliberately on his sternum.

What frightened Iago was the look on his face. Most people, upon being accosted by a stranger and forced to fight for their lives, are afraid. But there is no fear on his face. Hell, he doesn't even look like he's enjoying it. He just looked sort of blank. Like he was bored.

Like he could just turn off his emotions with a switch. Iago shivered.

_This isn't a child at all_. He thought, _this was a lethal weapon…_

_ Who is was this kid?_

…

Kanan came back and nearly dropped the food. He'd left Ezra and his new friend sitting at a table. When he came back, his Padawan standing on top of Iago of all the low-lifes. Apparently the kid had broken his other horn and his boot was resting on his sternum. His friend, (Gavin, was it?) had turned impossibly whiter and screeched, "What are you doing?! Don't you get it?! Iago and his cronies run this place!"

Ezra, the maddening boy just shrugged and responded calmly, "Now I run this place."

He had been gone ten minutes and his Padawan had already toppled the prison hierarchy.

He couldn't take him anywhere.

…

Kanan walked up to them and smiled. "Making more friends I see."

Ezra stepped off of Iago and beamed up at him. "What can I say? I'm a people person. So, this guy says he knows you."

Kanan gave the scumbag a kick in the face. His nose made a satisfying crunch. "Yeah, caught this son of a hut in my bounty hunter days." He looked down at Iago who was slowly starting to get up. "I suggest you get going before I start telling people just what I put you away for. Even in places like this, people like you are considered lower than scum." He didn't need telling twice. As soon as he was able he scurried to some dark corner to lick his wounds.

That settled, Kanan handed out bowls of what looked like blue slime.

"Bon Appetite, boys."

Ezra groaned. "Making a soup of MREs does not count as food."

Kanan shrugged. "Hey, I just think of Hera's cooking and all of a sudden, it becomes a master piece in comparison."

Ezra snorted. "I'm telling her you said that."

"She knows. Why do you think I do all the cooking?"

"You mean I do all the cooking." He corrected.

"Cooking is an important skill to have."

Normally his Padawan would have made some sort of pithy rejoinder, but his shoulders just sagged in defeat. Picking fights, passing up opportunities for snark; truly, the kid was not himself today.

"What's wrong?" he asked seriously.

Ezra's face went serious. "I thought if we were closer I'd be able to feel him, but there's still nothing."

He touched the kid's shoulder. "Hey, it's ok he's here. It's difficult to find someone when they aren't sensitive to the force."

"If you say so." The kid sounded skeptical.

He had an idea. Kanan turned to Grey, "We're looking for someone." He said, "A political prisoner a little older than me. We came here to find him, but we haven't seen him anywhere. Do you know where else he might be?"

"He might have been taken." The boy said quietly.

"Taken where?!" Ezra demanded. The dishes at the table rattled.

Grey threw up his hands in defense. "Nobody knows! All we know is that lately, storm troopers take more of us each week. And if you ask questions, you tend to disappear next. They took my friend Blue last week. That's why I had an empty cell. There are rumors though that they're being taken for experimentation."

Ezra's eye flashed and Kanan felt a chill run down his spine.

"Tell me everything."

…


End file.
